Around 1.6 million people globally are involved in the recycling industry and approximately 600 million tonnes of material is recycled every year. This generates more than $200 billion a year (this is similar to the entire GDP of Portugal, Columbia and Malaysia). Using recycled materials directly reduces pressure on natural resource extraction, and less energy is consumed.

Download the World of rubbish PowerPoint to find out more about important recycled metals (including aluminium, copper, lead, zinc and tin) and their uses, and how the processes involved in recycling.

Listen to the podcast: Business Daily Money For Old Rope on the BBC website and try to answer the following questions.

Why does Adam Minter think scrap is so important?
How are profits made from rubbish materials?
Why is the rubbish trade rising?
Are there any problems with the global rubbish trade?

The main activities for this lesson will focus around tracing what happens to different types of rubbish in terms of where rubbish is transported to be sorted and recycled and the variegated ways in which different countries are involved. 50% of China’s copper comes from scrap.

Increasing demand for copper has placed pressure on supplies from mines which make the recycling of materials which include copper much more profitable.

Read this article on The Atlantic website to learn more about how many of the world Christmas lights end up in China to be recycled.

Using what you have learnt about the global recycling trade, you need to design a storyboard which explains how recycling Christmas tree lights is important for natural resources. You should include the different stages in the life of the Christmas tree lights. Download the cartoon strip worksheet which includes a world map. You should mark on the map key countries and links between countries that are important parts to the story.

Download the PPT slide which includes a number of statements about recycling and natural resources. Identify the missing words from the bottom of the slide to complete the sentences. The answers for this activity can be found in the Teacher Factsheet.

This resource has been developed as part of the Rediscovering London's Geography project, funded by the GLA through the London Schools Excellence Fund. It seeks to improve the quality of teaching and learning of geography in London’s schools, in addition to encouraging more pupils to study geography

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